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What Keyboard Do You Use?

Nick Taylor on May 06, 2022

I was writing a post earlier tonight about my new keyboard which I'm really enjoying. Review: Logitech ERGO...
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Tina Huynh

At the moment I have the Logitech G613 but have always had my eyes on the Keychron keyboards for how compact it looks and feels.

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Tomasz Frankowski

I was using Logitech MX keys before and got myself Keychron K2 this week, and I have to say that even throuhg the clicking sound is very nice, the customizability here is a joke. There's no way to reprogram the fn or the screenshot button and that's really awkward as many accents in languages are written using the right option key that this keyboard is missing.

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Nick Taylor • Edited

Maybe there is something you can do to customize it like Karabiner-Elements?

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Tina Huynh

Interesting I've never heard of Karabiner :o is there a linux version?

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Tomasz Frankowski

The karabiner works fine for all of the keys, except of 2- screenshot and fn which most probably is hardcoded into the keyboard

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Tina Huynh

Oh really? What keyboard would you recommend instead of the keychron keyboards?

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Tomasz Frankowski

I'm going back to Logitech MX keys. I knew it was good when buying it, but I underappreciated how good!

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ssherlock • Edited

I had the first Keyhron keyboard, the K1 and it was awful. US layout (I'm in the UK), noisy keys and dodgy bluetooth. I did love the lights and how compact it was though (and soon got used to switching between uk and us layout so I could use the £ key when needed).
It didn't last long though as the keys really weren't that great.
All that said they have moved on a lot with many models since the K1. So if you live somewhere you're not going to get hammered by import tax then they may be worth a shot.

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Tina Huynh

Interesting points....thanks for sharing

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Patrick Wendo

The Keychron is also what I want to move to. Not even sure which, but I just know it's keychron

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Tina Huynh

Yeah haha I hear that a lot

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Andrew Baisden

Also been looking at Keychron keyboards for a while.

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Al

I just recently got Keychron K2 - love every second of working on it

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Nick Taylor • Edited

Actor Zach Galifianakis giving a thumbs up in a convertible car

Thanks for sharing!

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Danielle Mayabb

I run an ErgoDox EZ with Kiwi switches from TheKeyDotCo and Cyberspace keycaps from Kono. It took a little getting used to, but now I can't imagine typing on anything else.
Ergodox keyboard

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Nick Taylor

John Oliver saying, Dope

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mephi

Wow! I guess, I'm in love with that keyboard. But sadly, it is out of reach for me. Maybe, one day, when I have a real software engineer job, I can get one.

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Alex Lohr

I'm using a Logitech MX keys keyboard, after they discontinued the K310 series. It is rather silent and has a nice smooth feedback, plus the interesting ability to work with multiple devices.

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Nick Taylor

Thanks for sharing!

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Jason F

I built a cheap 65% mechanical keyboard. I got the PCB + case from ebay. I put some Gateron blue switches on it and some keycaps I picked up from Etsy. I also have a tenkeyless Keychron with Cherry MX red switches and a Ducky Mini with Cherry MX brown switches. I tend to use the one I built the most. I like that it's backlit, however, I may put some linear switches on it, the blue switches are....loud.

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Nick Taylor

Man with American flag draping over him saying Good job!

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Jason F

Thanks, it was a hyperfixation for all of about two months. Now I've got four mechanical keyboards laying around (forgot to mention my Royal Kludge in my initial post), and about 100 or so brand new Gateron blues. If you want em, I can let them go on the cheap.

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Jenuel Oras Ganawed

when I started to know about mechanical keyboards, I was curius why people liking it. So, I bought a Roral Kludge 84. I am using windows 10. After connecting it to my laptop, all the fn shortcut works properly on my system.

The keyboard is nise too, I like typing on it. I saw youtubers mod their keyboard, but I think I dont need to mod mine. It works and sounds just fine.

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Nick Taylor

A crab dancing

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Jenuel Oras Ganawed

Royal Kludge 84 hehe

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Heitor Ramon Ribeiro

Custom Keychron Q1

  • Domikey Caps
  • Lubed Panda Switches
  • Keyboard mods, sound damping, raiser

keyboard

All done by mamaswitch.store/

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Nick Taylor

Croc mascot nodding

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Ben Sinclair

A Drevo Calibur v2 Pro

I'm not sure what's "pro" about it, I think that means it has bluetooth as well as working with a cable or some such. It's a sort of 65% (no function keys, no keypad) in a slightly unusual style with hardward toggle for mac/windows layouts as far as the control keys go. I don't use that function like I thought I would.

It has blue switches and sounds like a typewriter. It has magnetic feet which are actually really cool - I always end up snapping off the little flip-out plastic ones that are so common or replacing them with rubber.

It's fully RGB and though I get strobing effects when I move my eyes along it, I don't tend to look at it while I'm typing so it doesn't matter. It's black, and I have a mostly light pastel-ish sort of colour theme going on with a few differences: Caps Lock is red (and mapped to escape), Tab and arrow keys are green, Enter is pink. Don't have a camera on me right now.

Overall, I'd say it's a really good keyboard. Cost about £35 on ebay as an open-box return a couple of years ago.

I'd like different keycaps, but it's ISO, and it's really difficult to get keycaps for proper keyboards - most manufacturers only think about the US, and I can't get used to that layout.

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Nick Taylor

Thanks for sharing!

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Christian Engel

The built in keyboard of my laptop.

Why? Well, because its there. I can use it whenever I open my laptop and dont need to carry extra stuff around.

And most important: its silent. I cant stand keyboard noise when I type.

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Nick Taylor

Actor Zach Galifianakis giving a thumbs up in a convertible car

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JoelBonetR 🥇

I wrote a post about that in the best keyboard I had for coding 😁

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Nick Taylor

Awesome and thanks for sharing!

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Just FYI, you can embed your dev.to posts using this syntax {% embed https://dev.to/joelbonetr/the-best-keyboard-i-ever-had-for-coding-l3m %}

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JoelBonetR 🥇

TY! didn't know that, much appreciated! 😁

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Michael Tharrington

And I shared a comment on said post about my keyboard, haha!

Well, I don't think mine is necessarily the most ergonomical or best keyboard by any means, but I have one of these from Lofree + the mouse:

lofree keyboard and mouse

It is pretty dang stylish and I like the clickiness of the keys. But, after about 3 years, mine is starting to break down, so I might be in the market for a replacement soon. Gonna have to consider this Logitech that you're talking about!

Well, since posting about my keyboard (which I noted was kinda on it's way out), I ended up buying a new Lofree keyboard.

I found a used one on Mercari for $35 so I'm kinda taking my chances... hopefully it's in good shape and none of the keys are wonky!

But yeah, it looks a lot like my other one with just a few color changes. Still got the teal in there though so it'll match my mouse!

https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/8sdwkgmkvfgg4f2v05e1.png

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JoelBonetR 🥇

hahahah plot twist!

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Jakub Stibůrek • Edited

I've been in the mech keeb rabbit hole for some time now. I had a couple pre-built kbs and for about two months now I'm using my custom built from scratch keyboard. It's called Kyria and it's an ortholinear split keyboard. I've never had better kb in my life.

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Jakub Stibůrek
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Nick Taylor

Chow Yun-fat giving a thumbs up

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Luiz Ferreira

I'm using a Keychron K8 and I love it!
Mechanicals, comfortable and have background LED's.

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Nick Taylor

Awesome!

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Ryan D. Lewis

I primarily use an old MCK-142Pro, which I actually wrote about a bit here! It's a solid mechanical keyboard with a set of 24 programmable keys and some other fun oddities, like a left-handed function key column and angle arrow keys.

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Nick Taylor

Jack Nicholson nodding yes

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Bram Hammer

Steel series apex pro, really love it!
However any mechanical keyboard would suffice for me. Maybe I just haven't found the holy grail but most of them kinda feel the same just sound different (sorry...).

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Nick Taylor • Edited

Jim Carrey in a film typing really fast

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Waylon Walker

I use a corne, its a split columnar 40%. Took about a day to get used to the split columnar layout, and months to get the 40% right. I totally expected that to be the other way around. the split columnar layout is not as weird as it looks and is so damn comfortable to type on.

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Nick Taylor

Nice!

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Peter Vivo

MacBook Pro 13 (2019) keyboard with labelled hungarian, but I use english keyboard ... so couple of label uninformative. Y = Z and reverse.

But main reason is touchpad and touchbar, whole computer is great for digital nomad usecase.

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Nick Taylor

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Nicholas Prieto

I’m currently using the Keychron K3 low-profile keyboard with mint switches. It is honestly the best typewriting experience I’ve ever had. This is coming from someone that really likes linear switches.

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Nick Taylor

Nice!

Nice

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Patrick Wendo

I am using a Redragon K552 Kumara. I got it cause I was into the full on PCMR hype. *are you a gamer if you don't even have a mechanical keyboard? (The answer is yes btw. You are a gamer if you play games, that's all there is to it.)

Anyway, tangent aside, I plan to go get a Keychron which I can build from scratch. I realise now that I really enjoy the modularity of the keyboard. Changing keycaps, changing switches etc etc. This is a weird hobby that I found out I really love recently.

***Off to learn soldering now. For keyboard upgrade reasons.

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Nick Taylor

Shia LeBoeuf in character saying Magic!

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CyberJack

I recently switched to a X-Bows Knight Plus Ergonomic Mechanical Keyboard with Detachable Number Pad.

It takes some time getting used to, but I like it.

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Nick Taylor

Captain America saluting

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Diana Le

Just got a Keychron K5 with brown switches a week ago after using Magic Keyboard for years. It's my first mechanical and I'm loving it so far, although I had to order a 3rd party attachment for keyboard feet since it was too flat. It was really difficult to find a low-profile mechanical keyboard that still has the num pad.

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Nick Taylor

Tommy Boy saying That was awesome!

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Rosemary Ly

I've been using the Keychron K2 (brown switches) for the past 2 years. Loving it so far! I enjoy the feel of the keys and the 75% layout really works for me. I am tempted to change the keycaps just for aesthetics and maybe even trying a smaller layout though.

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Nick Taylor

Ben Stiller in Starsky and Hutch saying Do it

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P.S. Napier • Edited

I use an Apple Magic keyboard, circa 2011. The iMac it came with is long gone, replaced by a custom Windows system. For about a year I went to a WASD 87-key mechanical keyboard, but I have tiny hands and stretching to hit keys was quite uncomfortable, and I wasn't as fast/accurate on it.

I hope Apple does a tenkeyless in the space-grey (or something else that suits my setup better) eventually, but until then I'll keep using this little workhorse! :D

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Dillon Headley

Ferris. Building a wireless Ferris sweep and planning to build a hand wired skeletyl.

Love my ergo setup

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Devin W. Leaman

I use the ZSA Moonlander MK I and love it to death. I even wrote a li'l blog post on how I set it up when I first got it.

Back in February I placed an order for a CharaChorder One as well, but it has yet to arrive. Whenever it does, I'll be giving my full attention for a while and then write a blog post on it.

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Nick Taylor

John Oliver saying, Dope

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Matthew Daly

A Das Keyboard Professional Model S with the UK layout. Ideally I wanted the Ultimate, which has blank keys to help discourage you from looking at them, but they weren't selling them in the UK at the time.

I love it, it's the best keyboard I ever used. The action is absolutely perfect, it's rock solid and comfortable to use. I suffer from a degree of RSI but I can happily use it all day without issue. At a little over £100 it was a bit pricey, but it was well worth it, particularly now that I work from home part of the week and so can use it then. It is quite noisy though.

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Nick Taylor

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Ivan Pozderac

Using AnnePro2 with gateron brown (those suits me best for programming) for 2 years now, would buy again! Bought and changed some keycaps.

Eyeballing Keychron and Ducky ones for a while.

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Nick Taylor

Awesome!

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John Rock

I just picked up the Keychron K8 for my new setup and absolutely love it. Went with the red switches and it is hands down my fav keyboard so far.

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Nick Taylor

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Lucas Reis

Nuphy Air 75

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Nick Taylor

Borat saying Great Success!

How are you finding the keyboard?

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Lucas Reis

After almost a month using it, I really liked the keyboard sound, the weight is light compared to my previous one (Logitech 917 tkl).

So far a solid 9/10

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Nick Taylor

Nice!

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Eric King

I'm using the keyboard that came with my pc because for me, there's honestly not enough difference between keyboards to warrant spending any time worrying about it.

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Jonas Petri

Same!

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Nick Taylor

Homer Simpson saying All good!

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Kolja
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Nick Taylor • Edited

Nice!

Two PureWriter Keyboards; one white and one black with their coloured backlighting on

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Kolja

Yes, and relatively quiet.

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Tawhid

Well uh.. Nothing special!
Just an ordinary 65% keyboard

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Nick Taylor

High-five for 65!

Amy Poehler and Seth Green high fiving on News Update

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Sandilya Bhamidipati • Edited

I use a magic keyboard and trackpad. I put them together as 1 unit and carry it around.

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Nick Taylor

Stephen Colbert saying Awesome Sauce

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Nicol Acosta

The big one, corne keyboard

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Alex Patterson
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Nick Taylor

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grendel
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Nick Taylor

Shinobi video game where the Shinobi character clones themselves to fight a boss

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Rajaneesh R

The one that can type text

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Pontakorn Paesaeng

Keycron K2. This is the first expensive thing I bought on my own from saving and money from activity. It's really good.

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Nick Taylor

Thor being cocky

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José Aponte

I'm currently using the Kumara K552 keyboard. You can see the photo on my post:

dev.to/jeoxs/my-keyboard-is-tkl-bu...

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Nick Taylor

Amy Poehler being cool

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Jason Murray

ErgoDox EZ. Split keyboard helps my wrists and shoulders immensely.

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Nick Taylor

TV personality saying Frickin' awesome!

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Eljay-Adobe

Unicomp Mini M.
Mini M.

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Nick Taylor

Gym teacher from Glee saying amazing!

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Jonathan Lao-Kan

I have been using a Moonlander Mark II

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Nick Taylor

Nice!

A moonlander vehicle on the moon's surface

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EdvinasOak

Keychron Q1

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Nick Taylor

Hot Rod saying Cool beans!

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donny roufs

moved from a royalkludge to zsa.io/moonlander/ a few months back and im loving it. Its really comfortable and im nearly back at my 150wpm(results from a 1 min typing test)

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Nick Taylor

Captain America saluting

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Or Yaacov

Lenovo Legion K500, a bit too soft, but to be honest I have no complains

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Nick Taylor

Jake Peralta from Brooklyn Nine Nine saying Hella Fresh!

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Alin Pisica

Since last week I moved to a Logitech G915. Yes, it's worth it.

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Nick Taylor

Nice!

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Ali Navidi

I'm using razer blackwidow v3 pro, its wireless and comfortable.

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Nick Taylor

Nice!

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Nick Taylor

This also looks like an interesting setup.

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oshox

Ducky now and forever.

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Mohammad

redragon k530, I feel some times there is some delay

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Nick Taylor

Stephen Colbert saying Awesome Sauce

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Louis Madrigal

I’m using keychron k6

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Nick Taylor

Noice!

Noice!

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programador51

Razer Cynosa Chroma

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Nick Taylor

Yeah!

A T-Rex saying Yeah!

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Scott

Corsair K70 Rapidfire. I love it for the size, feel, build quality, backlight, and typing with those MX speed switches.

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Nick Taylor

Thor being cocky

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matthew-salerno • Edited

I've got a keeb.io Nyquist with kaihl speed coppers, and the drop mt3 camillo keycaps. I don't love how chunky it is and I've been thinking about having another go with low profiles and designing my own PCB, but that may never happen. Other than the massive z height, I really enjoy typing on them!

Edit: no I'm not gonna flip that the right way round

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MJCoder

I'm using the Microsoft keyboard (wired) - the soft keys on it is great for me. I had a wireless keyboard before and hitting the keys was like hitting a lead pipe - the tips of my fingers were sore after a day!

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learnacadman

Onscreen Keyboard

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Casper • Edited

At home I use an R-Go Split Break keyboard. A low-profile split keyboard that can be connected with magnets to form a normal keyboard, for the occasional guest that needs to use it. Really nice as somewhat reasonably priced split keyboard for those who are interested in trying out a split keyboard. Also easy to bring with you in you backpack, the box it comes in is very compact.

At work I use an Ergodox and I really like it. The thumb clusters and extra keys paired with a lot of keybinds in AwesomeWM, Tmux, and Vim is wonderful. The column layout is also really nice. The only thing I don't like is that it's quite thick and has mechanical keys. I'm not really a fan of the long mechanical key switches and I like to rest my arms on the desk. I would much rather have an Ergodox-like keyboard but in the style of R-Go Split.

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Mitch Emory

I have a few that I swap between as I can't land on just one. Mostly it is the Logitech G915 TKL with tactile switches.
Others I use are the Logitech G613 and MX Keys, as well as the AKKO Black & Gold 3098B with the Jelly Blue switches (which are their tactile ones).
I like them all at different times, though I have stuck with the 915 the most the last month.

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Lea • Edited

Logitech MX Keys

Personal pros:

  • It's quiet compare to brown cherry mechanical keyboard I used before (MasterKeys Pro L RGB).
  • Portable & you can use it wired / wireless. (!) I got spoiled by all gadgets you can set on customizable keys but because it's portable, it's very easy to just have spare USB BT adapter to move around and use it in any conference room :3
  • Battery lasts really long (took me 4 months to empty battery), had backlight on at first and then I turned it off. ++ Backlight turns on when you hoover over your hand, which is nice for saving the battery :) and also for lighting up the desk in case you got no light in the room at the time.
  • Has customizable keys that open specific Desktop windows you can open, applications, web pages, keystroke assignments, close windows, copy / cut / paste, ...
  • Can pair it up to 3 devices and switch between them swiftly
  • Low profile keys

Personal cons:

  • Can't set up macros with specific text, for example I used to have macro keys set up with another keyboard, so it printed entire text template xD I kind of miss that.
  • not necessarily best for gaming :) but as it's wireless it's easy to just switch to different keyboard.
  • On screen icon appears when you turn caps lock on for example or num lock, it's on middle part of bottom screen, could be smaller and put either in one of the corners of the screen (luckily I don't use the switch frequently) but it could become rather distracting (even though icon has transparency effect) especially if you are in some screen share session xD

I tried to think what really bothers me by it but I feel like I found me my personal favorite with this one. Really happy with what it all offers apart that one missing feature but developer mode is available, SDK is there so I could maybe potentially be able to get that working xD

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Ivan Jeremic • Edited

Corsair K95 Platinum undestructable keyboard!

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Shiva Sharan

I use the Numphy air 75 and the keychron k6

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Andrés Fernando Martinez

I use a Logitech K835 TKL with clicky switches, really noisy and my wife hate it, so its a plus. Great for typing i recommend it.

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Leon Guillaume

I use a Planck with Gateron Brown and I also sometime switch onto my Preonic with Gateron Yellow !

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afullsnack

I'm using the stock Mac Book Pro 13" (2014) Keyboard 😅